The event consisted of 36-hole matches played in a single day. The event had an eight man field from 1964 to 1976. It expanded to 16 players for 1977 and 1978. In 1979, the field was 12 players, with four seeded players being given a bye in the first round. It was sometimes felt that this was unfair, as an unseeded player needed to string together eight successful rounds in four days to win, twice as many as in a stroke play tournament, whereas a seeded player only needed six successful rounds to win.

For its first 40 years the tournament was an unofficial one, highly regarded by golf fans in Britain and many other countries outside the United States, popular with players, and happily coexisting with the European Tour, at whose home course it was played, but not taken into account on an official tour money list. The introduction in 1999 of the 64-man WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, which selected its field on the basis of the World Rankings, was a blow to the prestige of the older event, whose exhibition aspects, with a small invited field, were emphasised by contrast.

In 2003, the tournament was given a major overhaul. Greatly increased sponsorship was secured from the largest British based bank, HSBC, and the winner's prize was increased to £1 million, which was then easily the largest in world golf (although the Nedbank Golf Challenge had had a $2 million first prize from 2000–02). In 2004, the field was increased to 16 players, all of whom need to play eight rounds of golf to win, to eliminate the advantage previously given to seeds. A qualifying system based primarily on performances in the four majors, replaced the invitations of the past. World ranking points were allocated to the event (for the first time since 1999[1]), and the championship became an official money European Tour Order of Merit event - not however the actual prize money, as the first prize is far higher than for the other events on the tour, but scaled down amounts intended to be more proportionate.

In recent years, Americans have tended to decline their invitations. In 2005, no Americans took part at all, and with stalwart Ernie Els injured and Vijay Singh and Sergio García also absent, the field was one of the weakest seen at the event, with just one player from the world top ten. The 2006 event had a considerably stronger field with six of the world's top ten players headed by the world's top two ranked players Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk. But in January 2007 HSBC activated a break clause in its ten year contract and withdrew from sponsorship after the 2007 event.[2]

After HSBC withdrew its sponsorship in 2007, the tournament was given another major overhaul. After a break in 2008, the tournament returned in 2009 with Volvo as the new title sponsor.[3] The event moved from Wentworth to the Finca Cortesín Golf Club near Málaga in Spain. The format switched to an opening round robin, with 16 players divided into four groups and the winners advancing to the 36-hole semi-finals. The qualifying criteria were also changed to include certain players based on their nationality. The total prize money for 2009 was €3,250,000, with €750,000 of that going to the winner.

After another break in 2010, the tournament returned in May 2011, several months earlier than the traditional date in autumn. The field was expanded to 24 players, split into eight groups, playing in a round robin format. The top two players from each group would progress to the knockout stage. Unlike previous years, all matches would be played over 18 holes. The total prize money for 2011 was €3,400,000, with €800,000 of that going to the winner.

In 2013, the event was held in Bulgaria, becoming the first European Tour event in Bulgaria. Volvo has requested that the championship be moved to geographical areas of interest for the company and therefore the event will be rotated around Europe.[4]

Categories (1–2) will be filled with the next highest ranked and available player(s) from the final 2013 European Tour Race to Dubai, not otherwise exempt.

Categories (3–5) will be filled by the highest ranked and available player(s) from the 2014 European Tour Race to Dubai as of the conclusion of the 2014 Open Championship, not otherwise exempt.

Category (8) will be filled by the highest ranked and available player from the 2014 Race to Dubai as of the conclusion of the 2014 PGA Championship, not otherwise exempt.

Category (9) will be replaced with another tournament invite (if no top-50 OWGR or host nation players available, then the highest ranked and available player on the 2014 Race to Dubai as of the conclusion of the 2014 PGA Championship will qualify).